(Re)creating Our Future: Art as a Way for Healing
On Thursday, Nov. 13, 2025, Santa Monica College (SMC) Student Health Services, together with Westside Impact Project (WIP), and Institute for Public Strategies (IPS) hosted “(Re)creating our Future: Substance Use, Community Trauma, and Radical Healing,” an art workshop designed to use creativity as a pathway to recovery, conversation and community resilience.
SMC collaborated with WIP, a nonprofit that focuses on prevention activities and community events, whose mission is to create a safer community free from the harmful effects of substance misuse; and IPS, which develops policy and education programs aimed at reducing alcohol- and drug-related disparities in the greater West Los Angeles area.
The event promoted a more holistic change in social norms around substance use. During a discussion led by IPS representatives Michael Jung, Ryan Factora and Erin Delahunt, the speakers said there are not enough initiatives or educational outreach efforts addressing substance-use prevention.
The discussion highlighted how stigma often creates barriers to honest conversations about substance use, especially among young people.
“If it’s hard to put those words outside because of the stigma around it, how can we communicate with them? It’s through art and building our own,” said Factora, a prevention specialist at IPS.
According to Recovery LA statistics, Los Angeles County is home to the largest concentration of substance use disorder (SUD) hotspots in the state, with an estimated 1.48 million residents experiencing SUD. Data also reports high levels of stress and substance use among Generation Z.
The workshop then transitioned into an art-making session led by artist and SUD activist Tea Samia, an SMC Arts and Studio Arts alumna who now attends Pomona College. Samia shared a couple assemblage arts she made, where she collects trash from Los Angeles to Orange County, and uses it to create art with its own meaning. Assemblage art is practiced by combining discarded or recycled objects to create ones’ work.
For Samia, art serves as a tool for building safe and expressive spaces, reinforcing that individual stories are shared experiences. In regards to her creative process, she said, “It was something I could use as an outlet to speak about, not only my own experience, but I felt like I was surrounded by people with substance use.”
Samia also explained why art as a social process can be used to discuss substance use and community healing.
“So making art actually triggers some parts of your brain that addiction does, and I think that is really useful to use it as a therapy. To work things in your head, is a very clear representation that we’re healing,” Samia said.
During the workshop, participants used old magazine waste for collage posters and discarded items — including beer cans, cigarette packets, and wine corks — to create assemblage sculptures. The workshop maintained a welcoming setting in which both the participants and presenters interacted throughout the art-making session. Participants later discussed the meanings and stories associated with their artworks, which opened more conversation about community healing.
The event concluded with a resource sharing presented by WIP and IPS.
The SMC Center for Wellness and Wellbeing and Student Health Services offer support for students’ physical and mental health. To learn more, visit SMC Center for Wellness and Wellbeing.